Fourth-ranked Troy swept a pair of Class 2A Region IV semifinal games from No. 1 Weimar on Saturday, needing two fields to win the first game 3-2 to tie the best-of-three series, then winning the rubber game 7-0 behind a two-hitter from Michelle Ege.
The Trojanettes will play in a state semifinal at either 2 or 4:40 p.m. Thursday at McCombs Field in Austin.
“No words describe it right now,” said Ege, who also pitched the Trojanettes to the title game in 2005, a loss to Elysian Fields. “It’s been a goal all year.”
Weimar won the first game Wednesday 4-3 in Austin. The teams played 1½ innings at Lexington on Thursday, but rain postponed the conclusion until today.
When play resumed at Katy Morton Ranch in a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second, the Ladycats (30-11-1) and Trojanettes (33-3) managed to make it to the bottom of the fourth before the rain pushed east. Heading back west, the series ended at Shiner Starplex.
In Katy in the top of the third, a throwing error by Troy’s Catherine Snow allowed Miranda Soto to reach third. She and Kailey Kubesch scored in the frame, thanks in part to an RBI double from Tracey Rosenauer.
Troy No. 9 hitter Jenny Calhoun led off the bottom of third, taking Kubesch deep to center field for her first home run.
“I was just trying to get a hit,” Calhoun said. “The top of the order was coming up, and I was just trying to get to them. I wasn’t at all thinking about a home run.”
Troy coach Bobby Cervenka said he was impressed with Calhoun’s overall performance, especially the key home run.
“She has been tearing the cover off the ball,” Cervenka said. “We were down 2-0, and that’s what sparked us.”
Apparently frazzled, Weimar then committed two errors on Shelby Shepperd’s pop up to right field, allowing Shepperd to score to tie the game.
After 45 minutes of play, rain and thunder forced the series to shift to its fourth venue, Shiner Starplex. Neither team scored until the bottom of the seventh, when Calhoun capped a 2-for-3 effort with a one-out single. After Shepperd popped up to second, Calhoun stole second. That allowed her to score the game-winning run on Snow’s single.
On Wednesday, Troy lost the series opener in similar fashion - losing an early lead and succumbing to a bottom-of-the-seventh rally.
“I love these guys,” Cervenka said. “I had to get on them for the first time in my three years here after Wednesday’s game. I thought we gave that one away. But they responded and played with so much heart. With so much focus on the physical part of the game, it’s easy to overlook the mental part. But we are an incredibly focused team.”
In the clincher, Troy scored the only run it needed in the first. Snow and Ege singled, and Weimar left fielder Jordan Dusek had the ball go under her glove to allow Snow to score.
After three throwing errors in the previous two games - and two errors against Poth in the regional semifinal - Snow handled a barrage of ground balls her way without committing a miscue. In addition to the winning hit in the early game, she added two other hits Saturday.
“I just have to put it behind me,” Snow said. “I made a couple throws that proved I could throw to first. I knew I could, but I had to prove it to myself and to others.”
Troy’s No. 7, 8, and 9 hitters exploded in the finale - 7-for-9, five runs and an RBI. Calhoun went 3-for-3, and Stephanie Rauch and Cat Hernandez each went 2-for-3.
“They’ve been good all year, but awesome since the playoffs started,” Ege said. “When the top of the lineup struggled, they were able to pull through.”
Both Cervenka and Ege (27-3), meanwhile, were displeased with Ege’s performance in the games, despite a two-hitter in the late game and 10 strikeouts on the day.
“I thought she was lacking a little,” Cervenka said. “It wasn’t her best performance. I don’t know what it was, but we still won. Like a hitter, she’s just in a slump. She’ll get out of it by Thursday.”
Already up 3-0, Troy exploded in the sixth against Kubesch (29-8), putting an exclamation point on its region-clinching victory. Rauch, Hernandez, Calhoun and Shepperd started the inning with hits to produce two runs, then Abby Ramirez dropped a routine fly ball in right to let in the final two runs.
“It’s a lot to take in,” said Snow, who was one of five Troy seniors playing in a fourth regional final in as many years. “We had to pull through, and we did.”
Shepperd had two hits in the finale, while Snow and Calhoun had Troy’s only multi-hit efforts in Saturday’s first game.
Despite what both Ege and Snow called a draining two days, Weimar coach Roger Maupin didn’t think the travel played a hand in the Ladycats’ loss.
“We both had to go through the same thing,” Maupin said. “But we made (11) boo-boos (in three games). That was the difference. Then we only get two hits in the final game, and they get a lot more.”
